Rachel Priest notched up a much awaited maiden ODI century as the White Ferns strode to a comfortable 96 run win over Sri Lanka in the 1st ODI between the two teams.
It was a day of milestones for the veteran opener as she also brought up her 1,000th ODI run during her splendid innings at the Burt Sutcliffe Oval too.
Sri Lankan skipper Shashikala Siriwardene won the toss and put the White Ferns in to bat, but must have soon regretted her decision as opposition Captain Suzie Bates and opening partner Priest caned the Sri Lankan bowlers to all parts. Bates was the first to go with the score on 84, caught behind off the bowling of Maduri Samuddika for 38. Priest was then joined by Amy Satterthwaite and together they put on what would turn out to be a match winning partnership of 131 off 138 balls. This, incidentally, is a record 2nd wicket partnership for the White Ferns against Sri Lanka. Small cameos from Sara McGlashan, Sophie Devine and Katie Perkins saw the Ferns finish with a formidable total of 283.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Lankans as left arm orthodox bowler Inoka Ranaweera, who went for 34 runs in her 1st five overs, came back to pick up the first hat-trick by any international team against New Zealand as she dismissed Anna Peterson, Erin Bermingham and Lea Tahuhu off the final three balls of the innings. She finished with career best figures of 4 for 53. Debutant Nilakshi De Silva also bowled reasonably well, dismissing Perkins to claim her 1st ODI wicket.
Sri Lanka’s hopes of chasing down the stiff target rested on experienced campaigners Chamari Athapatthu and skipper Siriwardene. Athapatthu stroked her way to an uncharacteristically docile yet responsible innings of 75. It was a welcome return to form for the big hitting southpaw as Sri Lanka will need to her to fire, if they are to challenge New Zealand in this series. She played a lone hand however, as none of the other batters were able to surpass 20 and the game was gone even before Sri Lanka had batted out their overs. The lankans ended with 187 for the loss of 9 wickets at the end of 50 overs.
All the Kiwi bowlers seemed to get it right on the day, with off spinner Leigh Kasperek in particular putting up an impressive bowling display. She too picked up a career best 4/27 in 10 overs to seal a comfortable win for the White Ferns.
Along with a 1-0 lead in the 5 match series, with this win, the White Ferns racked up 2 valuable ICC Women’s Championship points, taking them to 4th place in the table behind Australia, West Indies and South Africa. Sri Lanka are currently languishing at 7th position along with India.
The 2nd ODI will be played at the same venue on the 5th of November.
New Zealand Women 283/9 (50): (Rachel Priest 108, Amy Satterthwaite 69, Inoka Ranaweera 4/53)
Sri Lanka Women 187/9 (50): (Chamari Athapatthu 75, Leigh Kasperek 4/27) by 96 runs
